The aforementioned album is titled "Ready for Confetti." It was released just a couple of months ago, and Keen said he stepped outside his comfort zone to write it, choosing to do so on the road as opposed to his usual haunt — a small shack in Texas he calls the "scriptorium."

"I've always liked the whole idea of creativity in solitude," Keen said during a phone interview Monday from "somewhere in Georgia."

However, the Houston native wanted to put out a record right on the heels of his 2009 release "Rose Hotel," which was one of his more successful projects to date, earning No. 6 on the Americana Music Association's Top 100 albums list. So he shifted his mindset and went about writing "Confetti" on the road.

The result was a 12-track album that he admits is one of the more melodic he's produced, and one he's proud to call his own.

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"If you stay in one field, it's really interesting how much more you learn on down the line," Keen said. "There's always a dip where you think you know everything, and then it's, 'Hell, I don't know anything!'"

Considering Keen's wit and humor — exhibited in such side-ticklers as his '94 holiday hit "Merry Christmas from the Family" — "Ready for Confetti" is a more thoughtful album, almost Buffett-esque in its island instrumentation and lighter feel. Many of Keen's albums have been considered "perfect to drink a 6-pack to," and this is no different, though it also inspires the occasional rum concoction to be enjoyed in the sand.

Like "Confetti," Keen's live performances are great distractions, transporting audiences to places where stories come alive to sharp soundtracks, and the real world gets left behind.

Often his vehicle is humor, which is universal in both how it keeps an audience interested, and how it disconnects them from their distractions so they can enjoy the communal experience Keen and his long-time bandmates deliver.

Such has been crucial to their experience since 9/11, especially, Keen said.

"In the last 10 years, it's been a real ride," Keen said. "How well we're doing across the country is reflected sometimes in our audiences. It's certainly not the one stream of good-time followers that we used to have.

"I do think it's still my job, as an entertainer, to be there for that solid two hours we're there so they can forget about their problems."